Well, that's disconcerting.  At least they're not going to be using it in groups over a dozen, one would presume.

"...Have either of the Sith mentioned anything about the artifact to you, beyond their using it?"

"Not directly; I think they know it's dangerous, though, from the way they handle it."

That...  Could go either way, on it being good or bad.  They'll reserve judgement, for now.

"...Is there anything else that you think it would be good for us to know?"

"...let me think... Tuscias had me, they got me - Kalbetis was wearing brown robes, I thought she was a Jedi at first... they gave me my lightsaber back right away, I'd lost it before I was captured, Kalbetis said she'd gotten it off of some pirates but I think she must have used the Force - Pradnakt had me check it over myself and it's fine - they did the poison thing and we talked, they told me a little bit about what it's like for them to be Sith, I asked if they'd tortured anyone and Kalbetis said she hadn't, that torture didn't work, and Pradnakt said her master had made her and, uh - Sith can fall even compared to being a Sith? and she had, and she might have tortured some people then but she's better now, it took her like ten years to be sure of it - we made some small talk, Pradnakt went and meditated Light, she showed us how to do the healing and we started working on the most important stuff - they're doing triage, a lot of the people here had their minds messed with and they're fixing it so they won't wake up and attack people - Pradnakt has a pain neutralizing effect and was using it on me but when she left the med droids just had me on pain meds, and I asked them not to wake me up for a dose and they let it wear off like I asked and I'm pretty sure it was just pain meds - I'm pretty sure the pain neutralizing effect was just that, too, I was clearheaded on it - Kalbetis came to talk to me in the morning, she knew you were coming and asked if I'd be willing to come ask you to help, and I asked her for more evidence to show you and she got that to me over the next couple days after that, it's on a datapad I have here - I asked her why she was doing all this and she said it was the will of the Force - Pradnakt showed up and we did more healing - they healed me that night, I wasn't unstable or anything but I think it was bothering them that I was still injured at all - they gave me a room in Pradnakt's ship since I didn't need to be in the medbay anymore and Pradnakt stayed in her room with her droids for a couple hours and was Dark again when she came out - I couldn't sleep that night, so I went for a walk, and I talked to one of Kalbetis' people, and he said it was fine for them there and sort of hinted that she does anti-slavery work? which I guess makes sense, she gets emotional about people being free - I slept in the next morning and they didn't wake me up, Pradnakt or I guess Daisy had left breakfast for me and they were already healing people when I got to the medbay - nothing much happened that day, just a bunch of healing - and then I slept on Pradnakt's ship again and then I came here."

"...Hm.  That's interesting.  If Darth Kalbetis is that insistent on anti-slavery, to be - there is some intelligence suggesting there's a Sith that keeps... Well, killing, outlying Hutts and some of their favored minions, because we're sure it's not a Jedi but there's still some distinct, if rather effectively disguised, plasma burns...  She would then hold a rather divergent interpretation of their Code, I think, from the Empire at large.  And - when Kalbetis came to retrieve you, what was her Force presence like?  If you recall?"

"I don't think I noticed it at the time, sir, I was in really bad shape. I think she did say something about the code at one point, though, it was, uh... I don't remember the details but something about it having been written by slaves?"

"...An interesting lens to use, I'd say.  Assuming that it is the Sith Code she meant.  Is there anything else that you recall about that?"

He's not going to mention the part about Dark Jedi slavers, he doesn't want to be at ground zero of that bit of drama. "Um. This was at the beginning, when I asked them why they were doing this, and that was Kalbetis' answer, and that she wished she could kill all the Sith who didn't do it that way, and then Pradnakt said she hadn't known about it and they offered me some Sith history books and told me a little about what kinds of classes they'd had as apprentices, I don't think that part's interesting but Kalbetis went to the Academy and Pradnakt didn't. I kind of thought she was kidding about killing the other Sith but they told me a little later that that's common, Sith killing Sith." Which is still pretty upsetting.

"It's possible she could have been being hyperbolic or facetious - exaggerating or joking, that is to say - but for all I am able to tell you it is equally likely either way.  I'd say more likely she wasn't if she was any other Sith, who hadn't seemingly just rescued one of her nominal mortal enemies simply because -- their own infighting is, frankly, one of our best weapons against them."

"Yeah, just, that sounds like a horrible way to live. I dunno. It's not the most important problem."

"...It would be, if there was but anything we could do about it - but you cannot help people who wish to not be helped."

"...You mentioned that Darth Kalbetis was talking about her reasons for doing as she did - did Lord Pradnakt offer the same?"

"Yeah, she... um... she said she just wanted to, that there's more to following your heart than rage and pain." He thinks he did a good enough job of hiding how much that resonated with him.

"...I see.  Interesting."  If Master Ries noticed anyway - and that it stuck with Rafiik enough to deliver a quote is worth noticing - they don't seem to let on.

"...Unrelatedly, do you still have the datapad that you were given?"

"Yes sir, it's right here." He takes it from the shelf under the camera and brings it into frame.

"...It will likely behoove us to take a look at that, ourselves."

"Yes sir. I can have the astromech bring us in to dock."

"That seems like a decent idea.  Do perhaps remember to mention that to Darth Kalbetis' assistant before you do, though; she may have an opinion on the matter."

"Yes, of course, sir. I'll see you in a few minutes." And he cuts off the call to go let LC know that they're ready to dock.

That's fine.

What do you mean that's fine, this whole thing could still be a horrible, horrible trap -

It has no reason to be.  They're going.  If you're so convinced it's a trap, Van'ess, you can stay aboard the Phoenix and provide overwatch.